Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey Feud Timeline: Every Diss

For years, rumors have swirled that pop divas Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez don’t like each other. But, according to Mariah, they just don’t know each other.

The drama began years back when the “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” singer signed a record deal and began collaborating with Mariah’s ex-husband, record executive Tommy Mottola, and the media started to compare their talents.

That certainly didn’t seem to sit well with the “All I Want for Christmas Is You” songstress, and the rest is history. In Touch takes a look back at their ongoing feud.

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Where It All Began

According to multiple reports, in the May 1999 issue of the now-defunct women’s magazine Mirabella, Mariah answered questions about a purported rivalry between the two for the article “There’s Something About Mariah.” She said, “She’s a dancer, isn’t she? She lip-synched Selena’s vocals [in the 1997 film Selena], you know. I don’t think that as a singer, we’re in the same category as artists.”

‘I Don’t Know Her’

In the early 2000s, Mariah was doing an interview for the German television program taff, during which she was asked her thoughts on fellow pop stars. After praising Beyoncé, she was asked about J. Lo. However, Mariah simply shook her head back and forth and said, “I don’t know her.” The interview was uploaded to YouTube in 2008, and it quickly became a viral meme. It became so popular in the years that followed, Vanity Fair labeled mid-2016 as “The Summer of Not Knowing.”

J. Lo Addresses the Supposed Feud

In 2014, Jennifer made her “Clubhouse debut” on Andy Cohen‘s Watch What Happens Live. During a game of “Plead the Fifth,” she was asked about where her relationship with Mariah stands. When Andy said, “I always have heard there was a feud there,” Jennifer responded: “I don’t have a feud against her at all. I know from back in the day, I’ve read things that she’s said about me that were not the greatest, but we have never met. Like, we don’t know each other. I think it’s kind of from word of mouth of things that have happened in the past that I’m not really aware of.” She added, “I would love to meet her, and I would love to be friends with her. I think she’s incredibly talented, and I’ve always been a fan of hers.”

Mariah Throws More Shade!

In a 2015 interview with The Cut, Mariah was asked about gifts she’s received from her group of fans, known as the “Lambs.” Keeping things vague, she responded, “Recently? I don’t know. [yawns] I’m sorry, I’m having a ‘sleep’ moment… Well, there was a very interesting shirt that a fan made with a quote that I said years ago that, when I said it, I really wasn’t trying to be funny. I was just being honest and everybody’s kind of blowing it out of proportion but this guy had a shirt on and it was a picture of me that he made and the quote was underneath it — and I’m going to leave you hanging as to what it was.”

J. Lo Addresses the Supposed Feud — Again!

During her return to Watch What Happens Live, Andy asked J. Lo again to describe her relationship with Mariah after being caught on her phone at the Billboard Music Awards. “First of all, that was not fair with the texting thing because I watched a lot of it — it was a long performance,” Jennifer noted. “I watched most of it, I may have looked down for one second and people were like, ‘Look at her! Look at her!'” Andy pushed for more and asked why J. Lo skipped Mariah’s Vegas show. She responded, “When it started, I was already here in New York filming Shades of Blue and doing Idol on the weekends — didn’t have a lot of free time … I don’t think there’s been a time where I could have seen it. Would I want to? Yeah, I want to see it. Why not!”

J. Lo Claims They Do, In Fact, Know Each Other

During an appearance on The Wendy Williams Show, Jennifer brought up Mariah’s name when talking about her Vegas residency. Wendy Williams, of course, had to poke the bear by quickly asking, “Who? … No, I’m playing because that’s what Mariah said about Jennifer one time.” Jennifer then responded, “She does say that. She’s forgetful, I guess. We’ve met many times! I don’t know… I don’t know her that well.”

Mariah Loving J. Lo’s Pain

With J. Lo’s professional and personal life making headlines again in 2024 — including her marital woes with Ben Affleck and her struggling ticket sales — a source exclusively told In Touch she’s getting zero sympathy from her frenemy. “It’s no secret that Mariah can’t stand J. Lo, they’ve had a feud going back more than 20 years so of course she’s thrilled to see her ticket sales in the toilet,” said the source. “Mariah is never shy about trash talking J. Lo and always complains about how overrated and phony she is. She’s happy the public is finally seeing it too.”